I've had an Elvis sighting!

Oh, wait, no....that's just a Mimi! Mimi and Scooby got to wear costumes while they helped hand out the candy at Bob's house. Let me tell you, they hated every minute of it. Every stinking minute of it. Scooby was a bumble bee and Mimi was a unicorn (although her costume was missing the corn...uni or otherwise). Their costumes consisted of a jacket and helmet (think aviator cap with slits for dog ears), and the jacket was doable, but apparently the helmet was just too much. More than any self respecting dog should have to endure. I got dirty looks until well after the costumes had come off. But oh, they were so darn cute, it was totally, 100% worth it. And Mimi totally looked like Elvis when she was in just her jacket. Too stinkin' funny!

So, yesterday was Christopher's birthday. He's a ripe old 28 now. I the time between his b-day and mine because it means I'm only 1 year older than he is. Bob and I threw him a surprise  party, and it was a rousing success. He said he had a clue a couple of weeks ago, but by the time we got to Bob's house, he was totally clueless again. The look on his face was priceless. He was rendered speechless (which these days is less and less common). It was just a fabulous party. A  bunch of our friends came and we were both shocked that most of them brought presents. We quickly noticed a pattern to the presents....alcohol and chocolate. I guess everyone knows his love of the chocolate and recently flourishing beer snobbery (and love of a good glass of wine). In fact, the always awesome Rachel brought cold beer. German beer at that. Oh my, it was good. And, his friend Eric saved the day with the perfect present of Star Wars Episode III. Chris told me flat out starting the day before his birthday that it was what he wanted, but I got him Tiger Woods 2006 for the Xbox instead. Good move Eric & Alyssa!

All of a sudden the leaves have turned here. I don't know where it came from, but I didn't see it, and then BAM, day before yesterday, all of the trees were just gorgeous. Too bad I haven't gotten any really good pictures this year. We're having seriously high winds right now, and all of the leaves are blowing away. I guess there's always next year! I did get this good one at the condo next door to ours! I'm not a super big fan of fall. It means the short days of December and January are just around the corner. But, by the same token, I love fall. The colors are MY colors and I LOVE Thanksgiving. Love the food, love the shopping the morning after, love it all. Then, there's Christmas. We were at Target today and they already have out ALL of their Christmas stuff. Oh, how I love Christmas. I love the whole season. The amazing church services, the wrapping and giving of presents, the trimming of the tree, the apple cider, the love of family. Oh, I LOVE it! 

On a completely different note, we are currently puppyless, and it is totally killing us. We are flying out in the morning (well, in a couple of hours really) for LA (actually Long Beach). My grandmother died and the funeral is on Sat. It should be interesting. I haven't spoken to my father since I didn't invite him to the wedding. Could be very interesting. Plus, Chris has never met him. We had to take the puppies to the kennel today since we're flying out so early, and it was seriously painful. Chris was really worried about leaving them where we did (new place, long story), but they turned out to be super nice, maybe even better than the place we usually go. When were at home in the yard, we noticed one little puppy toy by itself outside. It looked so sad and lonely there by itself. But, the puppies have doggy daycare two of the days. Eight hours of playing outside with other dogs. They may not want to come home. I don't want to know what the bill is going to be. It was really rough on me taking the dogs in because they've been a supreme comfort to me the past week. I wasn't close to my grandmother; hardly knew her. But, it's always sad when someone dies, and then there's the trauma of not knowing what's going to happen with my father - what he's going to say, if anything. They've done lots of the cuddling. They are our babies.

After dropping the babies off, we stopped at Target to pick up an extra large bottle of the Excedrine Migraine (I think I may need it this weekend) and we noticed everything on sale 4 for $1 in the Dollar spot. WooHoo!!! Everything in the Dollar Spot was $.25!!! And, they had these cutie little stuffed animals (see pic of the lonely little toy). So, we stocked up.

Oh, I forgot to mention.....in an effort to brighten up our Californian un-adventure, we're going to Disney. It's Bob's b-day present to Chris. Tickets to Disneyland. He hasn't been since he was 5 and Bob and I haven't been for about four years....since we went after my grandfather's funeral. Are you noticing a trend here?